mitsuba

library3.8.0pypypi✓ verified 85d ago

Mitsuba 3 is a research-oriented retargetable forward and inverse renderer, version 3.8.0, with variable release cadence. It provides a Python API for physically based rendering and differentiable rendering.

ai-ml

pip install mitsuba

github ↗package ↗homepage ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · MITSUBA

mitsuba

ai-mlpythonv3.8.0

Install

4.4s avg

Import

—

Disk

220MB

Pass rate

5/ 10

Env Coverage5 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v3.8.0 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.95 runs

build_error

glibc

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 4.4s · import 0.000s · 222MB

220MB installed

● package 220MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

mitsuba

✓ import mitsuba as mi

✗ import mitsuba

Convention is to import as 'mi' for brevity.

Scene

✓ mi.load_file('scene.xml')

✗ mitsuba.load_xml('scene.xml')

Use load_file to load XML scenes, not load_xml.

render

✓ mi.render(scene)

✗ mitsuba.render_scene(scene)

Render function is 'mi.render'.

Initialize Mitsuba, load the Cornell Box scene, render, and save result.

import mitsuba as mi mi.set_variant('scalar_rgb') scene = mi.load_file(mi.cornell_box()) image = mi.render(scene) mi.util.write_bitmap('out.png', image) print('Rendered Cornell Box to out.png')

Debug

Known issues

breakingVariant must be set before any scene loading or rendering. Not setting a variant leads to ImportError or runtime errors.

fix

Call mi.set_variant('scalar_rgb') (or other variant) at the start of your script.

affects: 3.x

deprecatedmi.load_xml() and mi.render_scene() are deprecated. Use mi.load_file() and mi.render() instead.

fix

Replace mi.load_xml with mi.load_file, and mi.render_scene with mi.render.

affects: 3.0 - 3.8

gotchaRepeated set_variant calls in the same process cause undefined behavior. You can only set variant once per session.

fix

Set variant once at the top; avoid calling set_variant again.

affects: 3.x

gotchaMitsuba uses a custom memory allocator; mixing with other libraries that use incompatible allocators (e.g., PyTorch with CUDA) may cause segmentation faults.

fix

Enable memory pooling via mi.set_memory_pool_enabled(True) or manage allocation scope. For differentiable rendering, use the provided mitsuba.python.autodiff module.

affects: 3.x

Errors

Common errors & fixes

ImportError: cannot import name 'load_xml' from 'mitsuba'

Deprecated load_xml was removed in newer versions. Use mi.load_file.

fix

Replace 'mi.load_xml' with 'mi.load_file'.

RuntimeError: No variant selected! Use mi.set_variant() before calling any Mitsuba functions.

You forgot to set a variant before using the API.

fix

Add 'mi.set_variant('scalar_rgb')' (or appropriate variant) at the beginning of your script.

AttributeError: module 'mitsuba' has no attribute 'render'

Variant not set, or using old API 'mi.render_scene'.

fix

Set variant first: mi.set_variant('scalar_rgb'); then call mi.render(scene).

OSError: cannot load library: ...libmitsuba-core.so: cannot open shared object file

Missing dynamic libraries, typically because mitsuba is not built with the correct variant or installed from source without proper setup.

fix

Install precompiled wheel via 'pip install mitsuba' for your variant (e.g., 'scalar_rgb', 'cuda_ad_rgb').

Upgrade

Version history

3.8.0latest on PyPI · released Feb 23, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

No dependency data recorded yet.

Agent activity

2 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/mitsuba-renderer/mitsuba3 ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/mitsuba/ ↗

homepagehttps://mitsuba-renderer.org ↗